Index of Haunting's
The Darlaston Poltergeist(s)
art 1: "You cannot touch it or feel it, but you know it's there…"
Part 2: "malicious intelligence behind that…!"
Part 3: Brief Speculation And Potential Foundation Stones?
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Part 3: Brief Speculation And Potential Foundation Stones?
The key point of interest surrounding these happenings, from a research point of view, is the fact that there are not just similarities between the hauntings themselves, but certain elements within the cases which would appear to undeniably link the two outbreaks together.
The concept of 'paranormal activity as a form of contagious effect' is quite rare, but certainly not unknown. (Members of the W.M.G.C. may have experienced a mild form of this kind of influence during our 1997 investigation of Northycote Farm in Bushbury, Wolverhampton). Believers in this type of occurrence maintain that the 'contracted' phenomenon somehow becomes 'attached to' - or possibly 'rubs off on' - visitors to the haunted site in question. Both Mr. Whatmore and Mr. Selman are convinced that this sort of effect was the cause of the Great Croft House outbreak. This 'residual' activity is generally restricted to poltergeist manifestations, though instances where other ghostly phenomenon has been 'transferred' have also been recorded.

Invariably, the 'residual effect' is considerably weaker than the original activity, as with the Whatmore / Selman outbreaks.

Both households are reported to have been experiencing considerable levels of 'stress' prior to their respective hauntings, a state which is constantly associated with poltergeist outbreaks. Sadly, Ray’s marriage broke up while he was still living at Great Croft House and he clearly blames a considerable, subsequent spate of ‘bad luck’ – ill health, loss of job, etc – on his experiences in the flat. Tom Whatmore also separated from his wife following their move from Herberts Park Road.

As with any form of serious paranormal investigation, no self respecting researcher should be happy in endeavouring to consider aspects of a case without first looking into the general topography, history and any possible ‘ghost-lore’ already associated with the area concerned.

The entire region surrounding the Whatmore house had, for well over a century, been an area of heavy mining activity. Such a considerable disruption to / drain on the very structure of the locality would, by some, be regarded as a potential link to certain forms of paranormal activity. One specific mine in ‘The Lunt’ area – some 200 yards distant from the address in question – is alleged to have been the site of ghostly happenings in the early 19th Century. Legend has it that the activity concerned only ceased due to the intervention of a well known Bilston ‘wise man’.

With regards to other local ghost stories, the canal which runs within 20 yards of the former Whatmore home has no less that three separate female ghosts associated with it; the first at Wards Bridge (300 feet from the house concerned); the second at the rear of the old Moxley Isolation Hospital (approx. 0.75 miles distant) and the third at a site known as The Broken Bridge in nearby Bradley. (Around 1.5 - 2 miles away).

Finally, while considering the history of this specific corner of Darlaston – especially in light of the aforementioned data – one particularly ‘dark’ aspect of it’s none too distant past cannot help but be mentioned.

A number of years ago, a young Darlaston schoolboy was discovered, lying unconscious in some bushes, on a patch of waste ground known locally as 'Wardies'. (So nicknamed after the ‘Wards Pot Factory’ situated at the edge of the land concerned).

Horrifically, the boy was found to have been savagely beaten about the head with a heavy, blunt object. The person who discovered him reported that he couldn't actually see the boy’s face because he had been bleeding so badly from his head. Still alive when he was discovered, the boy was rushed to hospital, but died only hours later from a brain haemorrhage caused by depressed fractures to the skull.

The patch of land known as 'Wardies' (above) lies only 200 yards distant from the property which had been occupied by the Whatmores. Furthermore, the house in which the unfortunate boy had been residing at the time of his demise was none other than the property situated directly ‘next door’ to that which was to be occupied by Tom and his family many years later. The boy’s murderer is said to have lived in a house in the same street, some 50 yards distant.

While perhaps only being a matter of sheer coincidence in relation to the Whatmore case, the close proximity of figures and events surrounding the murder would, needless to say, be considered by a great many as a direct, contributing factor in the subsequent disturbance.

Whatever the readers personal viewpoint on this matter might be, it is of interest to now recall the details given by Tom Whatmores youngest daughter when describing the figure of the ‘young boy’ which she allegedly experienced a number of times at the property….. At the time of my interview with Tom, I specifically asked him about this matter and he earnestly insisted that neither he nor his family had ever heard of the affair previously.

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